Guten Tag! I am on the ground in Dusseldorf, Germany and have a few questions for anyone who can help:
1) in what part of Germany is English least spoken in? from what I remember last time I was here, it was more difficult in the former east...
2) are most language schools hiring for an extended contract or freelance?
3) are freelance work permits valid throughout all of Germany, or like regular work permits, only valid in the issuing state? (for US citizens)
Danke and thanks for any insight.

You are correct that English skills in the east are probably lower than in the west, because Russian used to be taught in schools rather than English. But they are catching up fast.

The vast majority of langauage schools these days only recruit freelance teachers. In Duesseldorf, I believe that Steven's still hire contract staff.

There is no such thing as a freelance work permit. You have to go to the Auslaenderamt and get an amendment to your residence permit, which allows you to work as a freelance English teacher (sometimes only for particular schools). It is only valid for the jurisdiction of the Auslaenderamt - e.g. Duesseldorf, but can easily be changed should you move elsewhere.

I used to work for Linguarama Düsseldorf as a contract teacher, they usually employ a mixture of freelance and contract teachers.
As far as I'm aware, Target also offer contracts, though the hiring process seems to be quite strict (demo lessons, submitting lesson plans, several interviews...) Their contracts tend to be for longer than one year as well. Other than that, it's mostly freelance.

In Dusseldorf you would have a better chance being employed by the fashion industry. Head to small town Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Thuringia, Brandenburg, Sachsen, or Sachsen-Anhalt and you might get lucky with a contract. The East is much more undiscovered, beautiful nature and most of all, the people in the Eastern part of Germany are much more down to earth and real than the materialistic West